The number of obesity-related cardiovascular deaths in the United States has tripled in the last two decades, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.[1] Black women have been hit the hardest by this trend.
The study’s authors tracked population-level mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), focusing on ischemic heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, cerebrovascular disease and other causes of death related to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Out of more than 280,000 deaths that included obesity as a contributing factor, 56.4% were among men. Also, 78.1% of the included adults were white, 19.8% were Black and 2.1% were Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native.
Overall, obesity-related cardiovascular deaths tripled from 2.2 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 6.6 per 100,000 people in 2020.
“The number of people with obesity is rising in every country across the world,” lead author Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, MD, a cardiologist and clinical lecturer the William Harvey Research Institute in London, said in a prepared statement from the American Heart Association. “Our study is the first to demonstrate that this increasing burden of obesity is translating into rising heart disease deaths.”
These deaths are the most common among Black adults, particularly Black women. In all other racial groups, cardiovascular deaths related to obesity are more common among men than women. In addition, the authors noted, these deaths were more common among Black adults living in urban areas than those living in rural areas. For all other racial groups, the opposite is true.
“The trend of higher obesity-related cardiovascular death rates for Black women than men was striking and different from all other racial groups considered in our study,” senior author Mamas A. Mamas, MD, DPhil, a professor of cardiovascular medicine with Keele University, said in the same statement.
Read the full study here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.